A novel therapy developed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) ameliorates obesity and Type 2 diabetes in mice fed a high-fat diet. The therapy acts through sustained release of nitric oxide, a gaseous signaling chemical whose most important function in the body is relaxing the inner muscles of blood vessels. “Because reduced bioavailability of nitric oxide is the hallmark of cardiometabolic syndrome, supplying exogenous nitric oxide at a sustained level may be an efficient way of treating the cardiometabolic syndrome,” said Jeonga Kim, PhD, Associate Professor and leader of the UAB study. “The strategy of reducing body weight by the local delivery of nitric oxide may be a novel, efficient, and safe way to prevent and treat multiple metabolic diseases.” This study, published on April 25,2022 in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, used an ingenious self-assembling, nanomatrix gel capable of releasing a burst of nitric oxide in the first 24 hours, followed by sustained nitric oxide release for four weeks. The gel was developed by UAB researchers Ho-Wook Jun, PhD, and Brigitta Brott, MD, and it is licensed through the UAB Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship by their UAB spinoff company, Endomimetics LLC. The article is titled ““Subcutaneous Administration of Nitric Oxide-Releasing Nanomatrix Gel Ameliorates Obesity and Insulin Resistance in High Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice.”